China News Service, Hulunbuir, April 12 (Zhang Wei and Qin Xuwei highlight) "It's really a'Cinderella' incarnate as a'White Swan'!" On the 12th, a reporter from the Erguna Wetland Nature Reserve Administration of Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region It was learned that recently, the local area ushered in the peak period of migratory birds migrating north, and the staff of the management and protection station found an extremely rare albino goose in the wetland of Gami Mountain.
The north-south Erguna River is a major migration channel for migratory birds in my country. There are many rivers along the wetland area. There are many species and numbers of migratory birds that migrate north and south through this spring and autumn each year.
Li Kun, director of the management and protection station of the Erguna Wetland Nature Reserve Administration Bureau, introduced that every year when migratory birds migrate, the staff will conduct round-the-clock patrol and observation of the reserve and surrounding areas.
"At that time, I was checking the state of the swan geese on the other side of the river through a telescope, and found that there was a white bird in this group of swan geese. I thought it was a swan."
In order not to affect the migration of migratory birds, the staff of the management and protection station used the telescope lens to observe and record the inhabiting, foraging and flying state of this "swan" from a safe distance. After analysis, it was determined that this bird was like a solo white swan among the gray flock of birds. The elf is a rare albino swan goose.
According to local villagers, the number of migratory populations of the Albino Goose is about 20,000 to 30,000, and it has been several days since the beginning of April that they migrated to Gami Mountain to inhabit and forage.
The picture shows the rare albino swan goose found in Ergun, taken by Zhang Hong
It is understood that the albino adult swan goose is pale yellow from the forehead base, the top of the head to the back of the neck, and the beak is gray-black. Except for the brown-white edge of the underwing covering feathers, the plumage is white.
It looks like a white swan in the gray-black geese.
According to Feng Jinshan, a senior forestry engineer at the Resource Department of Ergun National Wetland Park, albinism is usually caused by genetic mutations and is a single-gene somatic chromosomal recessive genetic disease.
"Through observations, this albino swan goose is often accompanied by four smaller swan geese when inhabiting for food. We speculate that it is the sub-adult offspring of the albino swan goose. Because albino is a recessive inheritance, the albino phenomenon in wild animals in nature is extremely Rare.” said Zhang Hong, director of the Public Welfare Forest Office of the Forestry and Grass Bureau of Ergun, the four offspring of this albino goose did not show albino traits, but they may have recessive gene carriers.
The courtship season is approaching, and the offspring of the adult albino geese will form independent families. Perhaps the albino gene will disappear in the gray dominant traits of group reproduction, or there will be new albino geese individuals appearing.
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